Communication and Technology
One of my greatest moments of learning as a teacher occurred when I realized how ineffective only verbal instructions were. Because I receive and transmit information comfortably verbally, I naturally communicated verbally with my students. I learned quickly that verbal instruction is good, but it can be great when it is complimented with nonverbal instruction. I soon developed an obsession with handouts. Even the slightest assignments and instructions I communicated with my students both in speaking and in writing. Students received handouts they could glue in their daybooks and keep, and I discovered how much more effective instruction became when I used both verbal and nonverbal communication with my students.
I also incorporated a great amount of media communication into the classroom. Email became an excellent and effective way to communicate with both students and parents. Many nights, weekends, and breaks, I checked my email to find a question from a confused or curious student. Also, during class, presenting information through Powerpoints, online documents, or prezis proved to be extremely effective. For example, when teaching some of the difficult concepts of grammar and its value, I made a prezi, which incorporated video, sound, images, and text. (Here's a link to the prezi if you would like to see it).
For several assignments, students travelled to the computer lab or checked out computers from the school's Mac laptop carts. In my class, students used computers to research, finding anything from news articles to sites with facts and figures, and students also used computers to create. As a part of my class, students constantly wrote, the majority of which happened in Microsoft Word or Powerpoint, but students also explored other non-print compositional like prezi (mentioned above; here's a sample prezi one student made for her Social Justice project). in addition, every Monday, my two College Prep classes went to computer lab where they worked on ClassWorks, an computer program that lines up with national learning standards for ninth grade English. I was also able to go in and choose which activities for students work on with this program so as to line up ClassWorks with in-class learning (for example, students worked on exercises dealing with foreshadowing while we were covering that term in class). Overall, the greatest amount of technology use occurred through the digital portfolios that students created, where student explored web site construction and digital composition and publishing of work.
